Savannah council considers crime-fighting options

Former Mayor Otis Johnson poses with hus official portrait, unveiled Thursday, which will hang with other former mayors' pictures at City Hall. Lesley Conn/Savannah Monrning News

Savannah City Council members offered some novel approaches to fighting crime at Thursday’s workshop, ideas fueled by the belief that hiring more officers isn’t the only answer.

Maybe one deterrent, Mayor Edna Jackson proposed, is a “100 worst repeat offenders” list, which would be broadcast in the community, put on posters and presented at Neighborhood Association and PTA meetings.

Her idea stems from Savannah-Chatham police Chief Willie Lovett confirming for council that one problem police face is the number of repeat offenders on the street who have multiple arrests. That resonated with Mayor Pro Tem Van Johnson, who is arguing that more officers on the street will not reduce crime.

“We can make arrests all day long,” Johnson said, “but we’re putting them into a (corrections) system that is fundamentally broken. By the time the officer who arrested them gets off duty, they’re already back out on the street.”

Lovett wasn’t sure whether there would be legal issues with publicly displaying “worst offenders,” but council members clearly wanted to explore it.

They also discussed having council members visit schools to discuss staying out of trouble and reaching out to churches and PTAs to work with youth. Council members have publicly pledged to put all their efforts behind reducing violent crime following the shooting of eight people at the Coastal Empire Fairgrounds earlier this month.

Lovett has asked for $3 million to create a 30-member drug unit, but council members say they are waiting on a revised budget request that would phase in hiring and costs over several years.

Council members want that so they can determine the impact on the 2013 budget, which must be passed by the end of the year.

The current budget doesn’t include police funding additions, so council would either need to cut expenses or raise property taxes.

Even if council provided all the funding the chief sought, he has told council it would take about a year to hire and train the additional officers.

Council has authorized paying overtime for a 15-member undercover unit, but Lovett explained after the council workshop that because of current staffing levels, only six officers are assigned to the Neighborhood Task Force. That unit doesn’t permanently assign officers, but pulls them from patrol to respond to special operations or upticks in crime, whether drug operations, prostitution or theft of bicycles.

An undercurrent of tension was obvious during part of the workshop. Acting City Manager Stephanie Cutter told council if it provided additional funds it also would need to measure improvements and hold staff accountable for performance.

Johnson followed by telling Lovett if he did not get his full funding request, he couldn’t blame any crime problems on a lack of funding.

Lovett responded he had never blamed his budget for crime.

After the meeting, he added, “This is the first time I’ve asked for additional personnel. I would not have asked for them if I didn’t think they were necessary.”

He also assured he would do the best he could with the officers he has.

While the city has had a series of high-profile homicides this year, the department’s overall crime data shows most offenses are down, some dramatically.

Residential burglaries are down by more than 450 compared year to date to 2010. Shoplifting, street robberies and thefts also are down.

Homicide is up compared to 2010, but year to date, is lower than last year. Commercial robberies, however, have nearly doubled year to date from the previous two years.

Alderman John Hall told Lovett people in the community are afraid and some are arming themselves. He asked Lovett to share as much of his police plan as he could with council, and indicated the expectation the chief and his officers face.